Wednesday, July 04, 2007

The Wild are looking into signing veteran defenseman Sean Hill, but complications surrounding his 20-game suspension have made it a slow process. Hill tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance late last season and still has to sit out 19 games.

This has been a story going around the Minnesota press over the past few days, and the first thing that came to my mind was, 'why?'

Why bring in a player with such a cloud of uncertainty hanging over him, a guy who won't be able to play until late November and who at age 37 is likely on the downside of his career?

Hill's a Minnesota native, so that likely plays a part here, as does the fact the Wild could use another cheap veteran defender who has a bit of grit.

I, for one, thought Hill would choose this opportunity to fade from view, retire from the league and avoid confronting the ugly connotations that are sure to follow him all season once he's cleared to play.

The only person associated with the league who has truly addressed the situation was Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro. After the Islanders were eliminated by the Sabres, DiPietro revealed to reporters that Hill addressed his teammates earlier that day and pronounced his innocence.

Which is fine, but why did he never do that publicly, specifically to the Islanders fans.

Hill was spotted the next day at Nassau Coliseum and he told reporters he planned to speak in the next day or two in a more formal setting. Of course we're still waiting for that day to come, more than two months after the fact.

Soon enough, he'll have to talk, and we'll get some sort of indication as to how a player "rehabilitates" after being blacklisted by the league's new steroid policy.

In the meantime, you wonder if the Wild just might opt to go with a more, shall we say, popular choice.

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About Me

A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a radio and TV analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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